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The Obama administration formally adopted the Bush administration’s position that the courts cannot judge the legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) warrantless wiretapping program, filing a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA late Friday.

Advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that the Obama administration is seeking to expand the government’s authority to carry out wiretapping under the auspices of national security.

Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, EFF’s litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration’s made two deeply troubling arguments.

Holder confirms states to have final say on use of drug for pain control

US Attorney General Eric Holder: Ending Medical Marijuana Raids now US Policy

Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries.

Federal raids on medical marijuana distributors continued at least into the second week of Barack Obama’s presidency, when federal agents shut down at least two dispensaries in California on Feb. 3.

Holder was asked about those raids Wednesday in Santa Ana, Calif., at a news conference that was called to announce the arrests of 755 people in a nationwide crackdown on the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels. He said such operations would no longer be conducted.

Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire makes a press statement following his decision to withdraw his nomination as commerce secretary.

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his name from consideration as President Obama’s commerce secretary, a major blow to an administration seeking to put a series of Cabinet problems behind it.

In his written statement, Gregg cited recent developments regarding the economic stimulus package and the decision to have the next census director report directly to senior White House officials as evidence that he and President Obama were too different ideologically for the pairing to work. “This was simply a bridge too far for me,” Gregg said of his decision.

President Obama dictatorial temperament

Title 13 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 1, Subchapter I, § 2, entitled “Bureau of the Census,” states: “The Bureau is continued as an agency within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.”

Not under the jurisdiction of Obama and Rahm Emanuel, but the Department of Commerce. The Director of the Census by law must be within the Department of Commerce and under the direction of the Senate approved Secretary of Commerce who then reports to the president.

A change must be made in the law before the White House can constitutionally alter that arrangement. Admittedly, with a Democrat majority in both Houses, Obama will have things his way. But at the very least, appearing to issue orders not authorized by law (as the Constitution requires) smacks of a hasty if not dictatorial temperament.

According to the Chicago Daily Observer, the Secretary of Commerce will not report directly to Obama, but his designee — feared by Republicans to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Last week, Mary Ann Akers of the Washington Post cited a senior Republican Senate aide, who declared that letting the census “be run out of Rahm’s office is like putting PETA in charge of issuing hunting permits.”

The so called kangaroo courtor Illinois Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to remove impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office.

Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges in December. Federal authorities allege, among other things, that he was trying to sell or trade the Senate seat that became vacant after Barack Obama was elected president. After the governor’s arrest, the state House voted overwhelmingly to impeach him.

A second vote, to prevent him from holding future state office, also passed unanimously.

Earlier, the two-term Democratic governor — who avoided the first three days of his trial, opting instead for a national media blitz — gave a closing argument to the Senate. He said he had done nothing wrong.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she will attend an exclusive club dinner in Washington this weekend because it could offer her an audience with President Obama.

In an impromptu, eight-minute meeting with reporters Wednesday outside the governor’s mansion, the former Republican vice presidential candidate also detailed reasons why she’s started her own political action committee and laughed off suggestions that she’s in line for an $11 million book deal.

With multiple failed attempts at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, all eyes are on Republicans as they prepare to pass major tax reform measures that would effectively provide a hefty tax cut to the top tax bracket while lowering the corporate tax rate to around 20 percent from 35 percent. As President Donald […]

A hastily written health bill — with deep cuts to Medicaid and major hits to patient regulatory protections — ran into the same political problems as bills before it, and failed to garner enough support in the Senate. Republicans announced Tuesday the party does not have the votes to pass their latest health care bill, […]

Georgetown Law students and faculty gathered on the campus Tuesday to protest a speech by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in which he blasted college campuses that he said have allowed political correctness to erode free speech. The school did not allow many of the students and faculty at Tuesday’s protest to attend the invite-only speech. […]

In a town hall event Monday night, the former presidential candidate took issue with Trump’s priorities as he devoted more attention to protesting athletes than to the condition of millions on Puerto Rico.